Multiple-part comb blade for hair clippers and a method for the production thereof



July 11, 1967 M. ANDIS 3,330,184

MULTIPLE-PART COMB BLADE FOR HAIR CLIPPERS AND A METHOD FOR THEPRODUCTION THEREOF Filed June 4, 1963 Z2 40 A4 J 3Z\ AZ 34 Z RR -1; \x/0 'l\ 3., 24

4 2; I a 3% 40 4% 44 I CID GD 39/ (ID (ID [L Z v\ d- INVENTOR. Mans 5W,q/vazj United States Patent Ofiice 3,33%,184 Patented July 11, 19673,330,184 MULTIPLE-PART COMB BLADE FOR HAIR CLIPPERS AND A METHOD FORTHE PRODUCTION THEREOF Mathew Andis, Racine, Wis., assigner to AndisClipper Co., Racine, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed June 4,1963, Ser. No. 285,392 2 Claims. (CI. 90-11) This invention relates to amultiple-part comb blade for hair clippers and a method for theproduction thereof.

For certain hair cutting operations, barbers desire very thick combblades. However, because of the difficulty and expense involved in theproduction of such blades by methods previously known, manufacturershave heretofore tried to satisfy the demand for ultra-thick blades byselling separately fabricated spacer attachments which slip over theconventional comb blade to move the area of cut outwardly from thecustomers scalp.

Such spacers are, at best, makeshifts because they do not fit withprecision the teeth of the comb blade to which they are attached. Infact they almost invariably have fewer teeth than the comb blade andconsequently are incapable of picking up in one pass all of the hairtraversed. Consequently, several passes are normally required to do thework that a comb blade of the same thickness would accomplish in asingle pass.

Spacers are conventionally made of plastic and have from one-half tothree-fourths as many teeth as the comb blade. Because of thediscrepancy in number of teeth, the strands of hair are in bunches whichare accumulated anywhere from three-ei hths to an inch away from theskull and they cannot be resegregated and forced between the teeth ofthe comb blade. Some of the hair will bend over and slide beneath thecomb blade. Without a spacer, every strand of hair will be held betweenthe teeth of the comb blade at skull level and will necessarily be outbefore being bent at the ends of the grooves.

The present invention provides a structure and method whereby combblades of any desired thickness can be produced for sale at a reasonableprice. The cutter proper, or the upper portion of the comb blade uponwhich the shear blade rests, is made of steel. The shoe or lower portionis made of aluminum or the like. The two portions have teeth in fullregistry and, when assembled, function unitarily as a single blade,equal in quality to a blade made of a single piece of steel, but withthe advantage that the weight is less than that of an all-steel combblade and the cost is only 30 to 40 percent higher than the cost of aconventional comb blade. This is perhaps a quarter as much as it wouldcost to make a comb blade one-half inch thick from a solid block ofsteel. The machining time is only about one-tenth of the time that wouldbe required if the part were made entirely of steel.

The steel cutter section of the assembled blade is manufactured with farless work than a regular clipper comb blade. It does not require therear end recess northe bevel nor the rills which are conventionally usedon a regular clipper comb blade. The blank can be ground parallel onboth faces before and/or after hardening and this operation can beperformed concurrently upon a number of blanks many times greater thanis possible in conventional practice.

I have found that the lower or shoe section cannot be made properlyeither of aluminum or white metal in a die casting operation becauseuniformity of die cast blanks cannot be assured. Neither was it found tobe possible to make this part from extruded aluminum, since it was foundthat dimensions cannot be held to the required tolerance limits.

The present invention is based on my discovery that the requirednon-ferrous blank of aluminum or other lightweight metal can be producedby using cold-drawn bar stock made to specification tolerance limits ofthickness and width, the blanks being thereupon cut by form millingaccording to a procedure in which the bar is turned over following eachcut, the result being to yield a complete blank in each operation afterthe first. All teeth in each shoe blank are then milled at one time withgang cutters in a single pass.

The steel cutting section of the comb blade is accurately machined andground and lapped. It preferably has precisely the same number of teethas the shoe section and the teeth are in precise alignment when the twosections are assembled by cement or screws or otherwise as a unitarycomb blade.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view partially in side elevation of a hairclipper embodying the invention, portions of the case and the cuttinghead being broken away to a central longitudinal section through theblade and shear plate.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the comb blade taken from the viewpointindicated at 22 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the comb blade taken from the viewpointindicated at 33 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a very much enlarged fragmentary plan view of the matingportions of registering teeth of the shoe section and cutting section ofthe comb blade, with portions of shear plate teeth superimposed.

FIG. 5 is a view on a reduced scale showing in perspective a shoesection blank prior to the cutting of the comb teeth.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view in side elevation fragmentarily illustratingthe first step in the manufacture of a blank such as that shown in FIG.5.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the second step ofmanufacture wherein the blank of FIG. 5 is completed and the milling ofa second blank has concurrently been commenced.

The hair clipper itself is of generally conventional design. I havemerely shown at 8 a hair clipper casing in which any desired type ofmotor (not shown) may be mounted to actuate the drive arm 10 which isthe means that engages finger 12 on the shear plate 14 to reciprocatethe blade transversely of the comb plate. Shear plate 14 is also ofgenerally conventional construction, usually being made of hardenedsteel and provided along its forward margin with a row of teeth 16formed by intervening slots 18 intersecting a portion of the bearingsurface of the reciprocating blade 14. For this bearing surface, acomplementary surface is provided at 22 on the comb blade presently tobe described. The reciprocating shear plate 14 has a rear bearingsurface at 24 for which the comb blade has complementary surface at 26.The intervening portion of the reciprocable shear plate may be channeledas shown at 28.

The present invention is concerned primarily with the comb blade and themethod of production thereof. The bearing surfaces 22 and 26 upon whichthe shear plate is reciprocable are carefully machined on a cutter platesection 30 which is preferably made of steel and hardened and ground.The bearing surface 22 adjacent the forward end 32 of the plate 39 ispenetrated by the slots 34 cut into the plate from its forward end 32 todefine shear teeth at 36 with which the teeth 18 of the reciprocableshear plate 14 coact at the forward margin 32 of the relatively fixedcutter section 30 of the comb blade. The ends of the teeth 36 aresquare-cut, as clearly appears in FIG. 1, and they abut thecomplementary square-cut rear ends of the teeth 40 of the comb bladeshoe section 42.

The shoe section 42 has a bed area at 43 upon which the cutter platesection 30 is fixed. Bed 43 terminates at transverse shoulder 45. Aheadof the shoulder, the shoe tapers forwardly at 41 to an apex 44 as bestshown in FIG. 1. Extending 'rearwardly of the shoe section from its apex44 and intersecting the seat 43 are the parallel slots 46 which form theteeth 40. The slots 46 of the shoe section register with the slots 34 ofthe cutter plate section. The teeth 40 formed by slots 46 register withthe teeth 36 of the cutter plate section, there being a precision jointbetween the teeth of the respective sections at the shoulder 45 of shoesection 42. Desirably, although not necessarily,

there is a narrow fiat area 48 which extends transversely forming slots46 cut therein, appears as shown in FIG. 5.

The preferred method of construction is as follows:

The bar 60, which is preferably of cold-drawn aluminum or othernon-ferrous metal is anchored securely and transversely milled with gangcutters such as those shown at 62 in FIGS. 6 and 7. There is one cutterat 64 which I is generically cylindrical in overall configuration forcutting a channel 66 with parallel shoulders 45 and 68. Associated withthe generally cylindrical cutter 64 is a frustoconical cutter 70 havingits smaller end abutting cutter 64 so that it has a radius less thanthat of the cylindrical cutter 64 where the two cutters abut at 72. Theend portion 74 of the frusto-conical cutter 70 is conversely taperingtoward the cutter section 76 which is partly cylindrical but furtherreduced in radius where it tapers at 78 as shown.

On the first cut rnade by relative transverse movement of the cutterassembly 62 with respect to the bar 60, the end f the bar is providedwith the elongated taper 41 already described. The level of cut is suchthat the junction 72 between cutters 64 and 70 is above the top surface'of bar 60 thus leaving the flat area 48. The radius of the cuttersection 64 is such that it cuts the channel 66 as already described, thebottom of this channel constituting the bed 43 upon which the cutterblade section 30 will later be fixed as shown in FIG. 1.

After the first traverse of the bar 60 has been made by the assembly62'as shown in FIG. 6, the bar is inverted to the position shown in FIG.7. The tapered end 41 is now below the apex 44 and the channel 66 opensdownwardly as shown in FIG. 7.

' The next traverse of the assembly 62 cuts a tapered surface 41 on theupper side of the next consecutive portion of bar 60 while at the sametime the portion 74 of the cutter severs the blank'420 from the bar. Inso doing, it completely removes the shoulder 68 which lay at the rear ofchannel 66 following the initial traverse. The portion 76 of the cutterremoves stock from the previously formed blank 420 to form the surface84 which is offset above the bottom 86 of the shoe and into which theretaining screws 88 are countersunk as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1.

The second traverse as shown in FIG. 7 thus completes the blank 420 asshown in FIG. 5, nothing further being required except to bore the holesfor the screws 88 and to cut the slots 46 to form teeth 40 with a gangmilling cutter (not shown) as already describedrFollowing each traversethe bar is inverted and with each successive traverse another shoe blank420 will be produced. 7

It is, of course, immaterial to the invention whether the cutter platesection 30 and the shoe section 42 are united by means of screws orotherwise. It is only important that these two sections are in rigidunitary connection.

The cooperation of the reciprocable shear plate 14 with the cutter platesection of the comb blade is essentially unchanged from conventionalclipper practice, but the thickness of the shoe section represents addedthickness. This may be prefabricated to cut the hair to any lengthdesired in a single pass.

I claim:

1. A method of making a shoe section for a multisection cutter plate fora hair clipper or the like, such method consisting in the steps ofsimultaneously beveling the end and transversely channelling the top ofa bar, inverting the bar, and concurrently cutting a blank from the endof the inverted bar While beveling the end of the remaining portion ofsaid bar and transversely channelling such remaining portion behind thelast mentioned beveled end. a

2. A method according to claim 1 in which the transverse channellingfirst mentioned forms shoulders disposed transversely of the bar andspaced longitudinally thereof, and the operation which follows theinversion of the bar includes the removal of a portion of the blankwhich includes one of said shoulders.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS LEONIDAS VLACHOS, MILTON S. MEHR,V

Examiners.

J. C. PETERS, Assistant Examiner.

42 below the shoulder 32,

1. A METHOD OF MAKING A SHOE SECTION FOR A MULTISECTION CUTTER PLATE FORA HAIR CLIPPER OR THE LIKE, SUCH METHOD CONSISTING IN THE STEPS OFSIMULTANEOUSLY BEVELING THE END AND TRANSVERSELY CHANNELLING THE TOP OFA BAR, INVERTING THE BAR, AND CONCURRENTLY CUTTING A BLANK FROM THE ENDOF THE INVERTED BAR WHILE BEVELING THE END OF THE REMAINING PORTION OFSAID BAR AND TRANSVERSELY CHANNELLING SUCH REMAINING PORTION BEHIND THELAST MENTIONED BEVELED END.